Iced Earth - Tribute To The Gods (2002)

A cover album is never something I get overly excited about, since I prefer listening to original material from the artist and, more often than not, I hardly know any of the songs anyway, so it's hard for me to really appreciate what they're trying to do.
Here, Iced Earth is paying tribute to their strongest influences. Or, more accurately, guitarist Jon Schaffer's influences. There are eleven songs here, and just seven bands represented, those being Kiss, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, Blue Oyster Cult, AC/DC and Judas Priest. And what's more, I know all the songs! Although I'm a bit hazy on the BOC ones.
Of course, that doesn't mean I like all the songs. I'm not much of a fan of AC/DC or Kiss (although "God Of Thunder", which Schaffer himself sings, is covered here, which is from my favourite Kiss album, DESTROYER), while the others are mostly songs I think are at least pretty good.
However, one exception is Black Sabbath's "Black Sabbath" (the only song from that band found here).
Being brought up as a Christian, heavy metal was seen as the ultimate in evil music (amongst a lot of evil music), and I read about it for years before I actually started 'daring' to buy it, and Black Sabbath was one of the first metal bands I got into (I'd been collecting Led Zeppelin for a while, but they just never seemed to count somehow). I'll always remember when I bought their debut, put the disc in, and first listened to the rumbles of thunder, the bell and those three notes that have sent chills through so many listeners' spines.  I understand the song is a warning against evil, inspired by an experience Geezer Butler had once.  It remains one of the most memorable musical experiences in my life and, ironically, it happened while I was in the middle of doing my Bachelor of Ministries at the Bible College of Queensland from 2001 - 2003.  It led me to become a big fan of Black Sabbath (the Ozzy years, anyway - I'm still not sure what to make of what happened afterwards).
Alright, that's a bit of personal stuff.  But isn't that what these cover albums are usually about?  Schaffer's enlightening liner notes that come with the CD (actually taken from a radio interview, I think) enrich the experience of listening to it, and helps make it quite a rewarding way to spend fifty-two minutes or so, even if, in the end, it still comes across as something that's more for the artist's enjoyment than anyone else's.
Oh, and I know none of this is power metal.  Zero.  But Iced Earth are on this blog already, so I can't very well skip it. :-)

***1/2